Monday, September 10, 2012

Have update the side bar to include a search box. This is because Google has turned the Navbar (apparently turned) into a Google+ tracking item. So it you are running anything like ShareMeNot, you won't see the Navbar. Which makes searching the archives a pain in the ass.

But it is fixed now....

Everyone please update your links! See the previous post or the header!

The break-in took place around 1:30 this afternoon on the 100 block of Wickfield Drive on the south edge of town.
The homeowner, who was in the house at the time, heard someone else inside, and confronted the intruder.

Confronted the intruder while armed, that is. The would-be bad-guy got shot once, and then he headed for the exit. Police are still looking for him.

In the most authoritative statement yet on how the drought is affecting crops, the USDA estimated that the corn harvest would drop 13 percent from last year, a bigger fall than forecast.

People with no background in farming will say how "unanticipated" this is. They never purchased crop insurance. (And they don't remember the year that the Army Corps of Engineers closed the Mississippi River to navigation because lack of rain made the water levels too low. It was 1988. It was followed a few years later by the Great Mississippi and Missouri flood of 1993)

The difference today is that we don't just use corn to make breakfast cereal and to feed livestock. We burn a large amount of corn in our cars. Seems stupid to me, but I never worked in Washington.

Countries from Bangladesh, to China and Russia are making moves to secure their food supplies for the coming years. The UN (Doesn't our Dear Leader put a lot of stock in the Useless Nitwits?) isn't calling it a crisis yet, but are making noises in that direction.
So, is it more important to feed people or gain the (questionable) advantage of ethanol in our fuel. I know the answer Arthur Daniel Midlands gives - they make more money on ethanol than they ever did before.

At one point last week, Britain’s 3,500 turbines were contributing 12 megawatts (MW) to the 38,000MW of electricity we were using. (The Neta website, which carries official electricity statistics, registered this as “0.0 per cent”).

So after building thousands of wind turbines, the relatively small country that is the UK (small compared to the US that is) is producing very little in the way of energy.

Friday, August 17, 2012

I'm sure that a big portion of the media (if they mention this at all) will be shocked - shocked! - to discover that corruption is a time-honored tradition in Chicago political circles. (Do an internet search on "Tony Rezko" or "Rod Blagojevich" if you are confused on the subject.) Chicago police officers sue Rahm Emanuel

Eleven police officers who claim they were removed from Mayor Rahm Emanuel's security detail so officers who worked on Emanuel's mayoral campaign could replace them have filed a federal lawsuit.

In the suit filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, the officers allege the city violated the 1983 Shakman Decree, which bars city officials from making political considerations in the hiring process.

Yes, the fact of corruption was so well established, that in 1983, not only did Chicago admit to assigning jobs based on political connections (clout), but they agreed to stop doing it. (Not many people believe that they actually did stop; they just weren't so blatantly obvious about it.)

Meet the new boss mayor, same as all the old bosses mayors.

I forget... Is it 4 of the last 6 Illinois governors who were convicted of federal corruption charges?

It's like they keep hoping for a Chernobyl-like outcome. (While the Japanese were in denial at first, they were not in the same universe of denial as the Soviet Union was.)

Japanese researchers have found very low amounts of radioactivity in the bodies of about 10,000 people who lived near the Fukushima Daiichi power plant when it melted down.
The first published study that measured the radiation within a large number of residents reassured health experts because the numbers reported imply only negligible health risks. The threat appeared to be considerably lower than in the aftermath of the Chernobyl accident, the experts agreed.

And unlike so many of the OMG!!! Radiation!!! stories, they actually give some hard data.

The study measured radiation in 8,066 adults and 1,432 children in the town of Minamisoma, about 14 miles north of the Fukushima Daiichi power plant. Researchers found an average radiation dose of well under 1 millisievert, which is considered a safe amount.

Since the global average for background radiation is 2.4 millisieverts per year, I would hope they consider it safe. (Some locations are much more radioactive than average....) I mean be fair, are they going to evacuate the planet because there is some radiation. You couldn't go anywhere that is free of radiation, since it rains down on us from space.

That thing about "detectible radiation"... we can detect absurdly small amounts of radiation. Bananas set off the radiation alarms in ports. Because bananas contain stupidly small amounts of radiation.

The Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, (That is official Japanese name for the disaster) and the subsequent problems at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant constitute a disaster and a tragedy. That doesn't mean we should make things worse through ignorance of radiation, its effects, and remediation. We certainly shouldn't set public policy based on fear and ignorance. That is of course exactly what we do.

The German electrical grid has been hit with a series of voltage drops. It has caused problems (havoc, is probably too strong a word at this juncture) with German industry.

It was 3 a.m. on a Wednesday when the machines suddenly ground to a halt at Hydro Aluminium in Hamburg. The rolling mill's highly sensitive monitor stopped production so abruptly that the aluminum belts snagged. They hit the machines and destroyed a piece of the mill. The reason: The voltage off the electricity grid weakened for just a millisecond.

Workers had to free half-finished aluminum rolls from the machines, and several hours passed before they could be restarted. The damage to the machines cost some €10,000 ($12,300).

In the following three weeks, the voltage weakened at the Hamburg factory two more times, each time for a fraction of second. Since the machines were on a production break both times, there was no damage. Still, the company invested €150,000 to set up its own emergency power supply, using batteries, to protect itself from future damages.

It isn't all doom and gloom of course - battery companies are tremendously profitable at this time.

The cause?

The problem is that wind and solar farms just don't deliver the same amount of continuous electricity compared with nuclear and gas-fired power plants. To match traditional energy sources, grid operators must be able to exactly predict how strong the wind will blow or the sun will shine.

But such an exact prediction is difficult. Even when grid operators are off by just a few percentage points, voltage in the grid slackens. That has no affect on normal household appliances, such as vacuum cleaners and coffee machines. But for high-performance computers, for example, outages lasting even just a millisecond can quickly trigger system failures.

Freezing in the dark? Not yet. Watch this space.

(And for those skeptics, I will only point out that Der Spiegel is not generally considered a right-wing publication.)

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence have a long history of tweaking the Catholic Church's nose. Some it is clearly in bad taste. (Showing up for mass in high drag is gonna cause a stir), but I thought their ceremony to "exorcize" the Pope from the city during a visit a few years back was a comic masterpiece. But that's me. Apparently the Catholic Church is done with drag queens. San Francisco archdiocese bans drag queens from parish; gay group indignant | LifeSiteNews.com

The issue in question here isn't especially about the Sisters, but it is about gay groups using church halls for private events. Events that did feature some local drag performers as emcees. That was apparently too much for new parish leadership. (The old leadership put up with the insanity, because the Sister raise a fair amount of money for charity - mostly AIDS-related.)

Personally I think the Pastafarians have a better grasp on the absurd, but I do understand the position of the Sisters. And the election bid of "Sister Mary Boom Boom, Nun of the Above" to run for San Francisco City Council - she got 23,000 votes and almost won - was inspired. (Who hasn't wanted to vote for "none of the above" at some point?)

Bankers and politicians aren't the only ones responsible for the crisis, either. Many from the older generations were accomplices in the faltering system. Almost every family in Greece had a member who profited from the bloated state apparatus as a civil servant. Baby boomers in Spain took on mortgages en masse, pushing their country into the debt crisis. And in Italy, politicians like Silvio Berlusconi were re-elected repeatedly because their tricks were apparently met with great sympathy -- pensioners have been among the former prime minister's most important constituencies.

People say they love their children and grand children. Then why are those same descendants left holding a trillion dollar or euro debt?

Now I am not much for worrying about "income inequality," or the like, but the statistics are always interesting.

This gap is growing outside the euro zone, too. In the United States, household assets for those over 65 have increased by some 42 percent since 1984, according to the Pew Research Center. But those younger than 35 own 68 percent less than their peers did during the mid-1980s.

Even if you account for inflation, which this study doesn't seem to do (though it is really hard to tell given it is being viewed through the filter of "journalistic professionalism") it is not surprising that the young can't seem to get ahead.

Deferred gratification? Living within your means? Not things that were very popular in the early part of this century or in the 1990s. What role models do they have? Who started the craze for acres of granite in every kitchen? Add to that the crushing debt from college loans and it is hardly surprising that none of the young are saving.

Could they? Certainly. But how many are willing to drive a 10 year-old car, cook their own meals, quit smoking, drinking, whatever? How many people today would cancel their cable/satellite service to pay off the college debt early? High-speed internet? Cell phone? iPad? Whatever?

The Greeks can't keep their promises. The Greeks need more money. The Greeks are going to (or already have) asked the Germans for more money. The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, is out of options.

'There Can Be No Renegotiations'

This time, the head-shaking isn't just happening among the notorious euro-bailout rebels within the conservative block. "The government in Athens must fulfill its reform requirements," said Stefan Müller, the parliamentary secretary for the CSU's state group. For members of his party in the federal parliament, he said: "There can be no renegotiations of either the content or the time span. Each week of extension for achieving the deficit target costs taxpayers money." He also said it would be the "wrong message entirely" if concessions made to Greece then prompted other crisis-stricken countries to demand renegotiations of the terms of their own bailouts. Meanwhile, the FPD's general secretary, Patrick Döring, told the daily Die Welt: "The FDP will not allow itself to be a part of a loosening of a valid contract."

So talk of the Grexit - the Greek Exit from the Euro - is finally reached the European Halls of Power. (Denial ain't just a river in Egypt.)

If it was ever the goal of Merkel and her allies to rescue Greece from bankruptcy, then they have failed. The only thing the drastic austerity measures have done is to exacerbate the economic crisis and push Greece's debts even higher. Nevertheless, the creditors have insisted on moving forward with their plan -- even though it already became clear long ago where it was heading.

The end of this approach now appears to have been reached. Neither euro-zone countries nor the IMF can provide Greece with more aid without sacrificing their own credibility. Given these circumstances, there is only one option left: Greece must go broke.

The Greeks were better off outside the Euro zone. Once the dust settles they will be in a better place than they are now, though given the state of things, that will take a very long time. Let's remind everyone that Greece LIED about the levels of their yearly budget deficit as well as the true size of their outstanding debt in order to get into the Euro, and have never met the minimum requirements for Euro membership. They should leave.

Friday, August 03, 2012

For her, a quiet Thursday morning nap turned quickly when she was woken by two men, attempting to break in to her Baton Rouge home. She quickly locked herself in the bathroom and called 911.

The homeowner was shocked, but she still armed herself, and locked herself in the bathroom.
The robbers got away with some cash.
If you are reading this, you don't live in Pleasantville. Your address is somewhere in the Real World™. You know, that place where sometimes there is crime.

The International Maritime Bureau attributed the sharp drop to "pre-emptive and disruptive counter piracy tactics" by international navies patrolling in seas off Somalia as well as increased vigilance by ships including hiring private armed personnel on board.

While I'm sure that the navies of NATO et al like to think they have had some impact, the real change in the last year or 2 is the embarkation of armed mercenaries - security forces - on ships in the worst areas.

The bureau said the decline in Somali piracy was partially offset by intensified and violent attacks in the Gulf of Guinea off western Africa, where 32 cases including five hijackings were reported, up from 25 in the first half last year. Nigeria reported 17 cases, nearly triple the number from a year ago. Togo reported five attacks including the hijacking of a tanker, up from no incidents in the same time last year, it said.

Several countries in West Africa are getting aid to beef up their navies, including Ghana, which picked up a couple of surplus German fast-attack-craft.

Ghana has been reviewing measures to safeguard its waters, most importantly to protect our oil installations from pirate attacks. Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea is not on the scale of that off Somalia, but analysts say an increase in scope and number of attacks in a region ill-equipped to counter the threat could affect shipping and investment.

Sailing on the account, is an ancient (if not exactly time-honored) tradition. Keeping it in check means military might. That's what worked in the 1800s, and that is what is working (finally) in East Africa.

Wednesday, August 01, 2012

The homeowner told authorities he heard someone loudly banding on the door of his two-story townhouse in the early morning hours in the 2500 block of East Park Boulevard. The homeowner said he then heard the person attempt to break into his upstair's balcony and then heard the window on his front door get smashed

The would-be home-invader ran up the interior steps and got shot. This convinced him to leave. By car.

Authorities later found a vehicle matching the description in a residential neighborhood just east of the crime scene and discovered a wounded man inside.

Way back in January, an un-named homeowner shot someone breaking into his house with a hammer. He shot the would-be-home-invader multiple times. That fact seems to have bothered some folks, because the prosecutor, Mark Roe, felt it was necessary to make a statement.

Roe says the number of shots fired has no bearing on whether a homicide was justifiable.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Just watched most (some?) of Starship Troopers. I guess I am going to have to revisit the original Heinlein story. The movie was awful.

The next Military-Sci-Fi flick (that I know of) is Ender's Gamebased on the Orson Scott Card novel of the same name. Given that the original story viewed military action through the lens of a video game - sort of - I don't hold out much hope for the movie. Add to that the fact that it has been through the Hollywood mill for about 4 years, which I'm sure means that the script has been rewritten by the suits at least once. (Think of "Daredevil" when you want to understand what the Hollywood system does to a screenplay, or better, think of "Waterworld" - an interesting premise, destroyed by cliche.)

That said, is it really too much to ask for a little military authenticity in a movie? Even a SciFi Movie? (The last movie I know of that had a hint of authenticity was Shooter. I liked it, but it didn't do too well at the box office.)

The shock of having narrowly avoided the mass shooting that claimed 12 lives and left 59 people injured was compounded this morning, when [Leilannah] White discovered the suspect lived on her block.

She woke at 6:30 a.m. to find portions of her street--the 1600 and 1700 north blocks of Paris Street--cordoned off by crime scene tape, police cruisers, and fire trucks. Some of her neighbors had been evacuated; so far, her building had not been. White's home is cattycorner to the apartment building where Aurora authorities say the suspect in the shootings, 24-year-old James Holmes, lives.

"I do not feel safe, to be honest," White, whose daughters are 2 years old and 3 months old, said. "That's scary to wake up to something like this." [My emphasis: Z-Deb]

Before all this took place, Ms. White apparently 'felt safe.' She wasn't safe, but she felt safe. And in this modern age, feelings are so much more important than reality.

I'm sure it was a shock. I'm sure it was scary. I am also very sure that she was not safe last week, no matter how she felt. Nor is she safe today, even with this guy behind bars. Because she does not live in a fantasy world, but in the Real World. And the Real World™ is characterized by crime and pain. Also joy, but you can't pretend the bitter doesn't exist along with the sweet. Well, you can pretend, it just doesn't do you any good.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Instead of running off, police said Carpenter came back and threatened the homeowner by shoving his gun through the dog door in the back of the house. The homeowner then shot the Carpenter six times, sending him to the intensive care unit of the hospital.

The wrinkle is the guy stole marijuana, for which the homeowner had medical license. He came back from more and got shot.

“I have no idea what might of happened,” said Gilbert Hopkins. “I’m shocked to even hear that something did happen, and I’m just clueless.”

Get clue, Mr. or Ms. Clueless. If you can read this, then you do not live in Pleasantville, You live in the Real World™. And in the real world, crime happens. It may happen where you live, to people you know. Crime isn't something that happens to "other kinds of people" in "other kinds of places." Crime is everywhere. Wake up.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Every once in a while, pissed off at the incompetence that is Blogger, I start looking for an alternative. (The ice cream may be free, but that doesn't mean I have to put up with it when it is bad.)

But now it isn't just about Blogger. It is about Google. I use Yahoo! for a search engine most of the time. I use Bing News and Yahoo! News as much as Google these days. Google keeps showing me what it THINKS I want to see, instead of the average search results. More than annoying really.

Their steadfast determination to exclude anything firearm-related from Google Shopping while insanity is perfectly OK. (Warning: if you follow all the links to the end of that chain it is NOT SAFE FOR WORK. And you may never be able to get the images burned in your retinas to fade.) At some point you have to decide who your friends are, and who they are not.

So maybe it is time to dust off the Wordpress version of this blog I have been playing around with for going on 5 years, and move on. Love to hear your thoughts.

Greece's crippled economy will fall a steeper-than-expected 6.9 percent this year, a think-tank formerly run by the new finance minister said on Monday, a tumble that will hamper efforts to cut the deficit and bring yet more pain to Greeks.

Such a decline would mean Greece's economy has shrink by a fifth since the end of 2007.

And I don't think they have any plan for growing the economy, aside from government spending. With money they don't have. (As I've said before, more government spending is NOT equal to encouraging economic growth. How about a look at regulations and taxes stopping businesses?)

The interest rate, or yield, on the country’s ten-year bonds rose 16 basis points to 7.03 per cent, a level that market-watchers consider is unaffordable for a country to raise money on the bond markets in the long term and the level at which Greece, Ireland and Portugal all sought an international bailout. Stocks on Madrid’s benchmark index fell 1.5 per cent.

Monday, July 09, 2012

A woman living in the 4600 block of Stone Ridge Trail in Sarasota called 911 just before 6:30 p.m. Saturday to report that a man had attempted to enter her home by breaking a glass door at the rear of the home.
The woman said in the call that she fired her .38 caliber gun twice through the door. The suspect screamed, she said, got into his vehicle and fled the scene. It is not known whether the suspect was injured or not.
"I'm by myself and I keep a gun just for security reasons, and he was stepping in when I came out," the woman says in the call. ... I was just so frightened by the noise."

He screamed and ran like a rabbit.
No one is in custody, but police are still looking.
Good Guys 1, Bad Guys 0.

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